Down to 4 healthy (as far as we know) OF on the 40 man; Ellsbury, Victorino, Gomes, and Nava. Besides Michael Bourn there's nothing left in free agency. Granted, it's only Hassan, but you'd think a deal for an OF / 1B could occur pretty early in camp.

Granted his role this season was never going to be more than an emergency call-up from Pawtucket, but now the team has a clear depth problem in the outfield.

I wonder how long that's been bothering him. I know he had some kind of foot injury when he was in Portland. I don't think he missed much time, but it does roughly coincide with when his hitting dropped off.

Down to 4 healthy (as far as we know) OF on the 40 man; Ellsbury, Victorino, Gomes, and Nava. Besides Michael Bourn there's nothing left in free agency. Granted, it's only Hassan, but you'd think a deal for an OF / 1B could occur pretty early in camp.

Matt Carpenter would be an ideal pickup for this team, if we were somehow able to get him. He'd be our best LF, can play 1B, where Napoli has real health issues, and 3B, where our only decent option is a rookie who doesn't walk who is coming off a wrist injury. He can also play RF, 15 games there last season for the Cards. He's 27, gets on base and has a little bit of pop in his bat, but is blocked with the Cardinals.

Can't we find a third team to work something like a 3-way Salty + relief pitcher for Carpenter deal? I suppose by now most teams have filled their catching needs though.

I would assume that if the asking price for Carpenter were something we thought reasonable, we'd have him by now. He's an obvious fit. From what I've been reading, though, the Cards want to hang onto him because they see him as a high-value supersub. There's been stuff on MLBTR about him being seen as an alternative at 2B, and the Cards' official website depth chart shows him as a backup at every position except C, SS and CF.

Matt
Carpenter would be an ideal pickup for this team, if we were somehow
able to get him. He'd be our best LF, can play 1B, where Napoli has real
health issues, and 3B, where our only decent option is a rookie who
doesn't walk who is coming off a wrist injury. He can also play RF, 15
games there last season for the Cards. He's 27, gets on base and has a
little bit of pop in his bat, but is blocked with the Cardinals.

Can't we find a third team to work something like a 3-way Salty + relief pitcher for Carpenter deal? I suppose by now most teams have filled their catching needs though.

Since Ruiz was suspended I've been half expecting to see something with Salty going to Philly. As far as I can see they only have Sebastian Valle behind Kratz going into the season. Unfortunately I don't see a fit with Philly for OF depth.

How out of the question would it be to just watch Jackie Bradley during camp, and if he hits .350 let him skip AAA altogether. it wouldn't be at all unprecedented. I assume. Alex Gordon did it on one season of AA out of college; of course, that may have impaired his development. In Red Sox history, they only left Ellis Burks at Pawtucket for 50 plate appearances as a 22 year old. Former Sox JD Drew had only 200 AAA at bats in his 22 and 23 year old seasons after going the independent league route in his contract war with Philly.

I highly doubt the Sox will simply look at a ratio and wave Bradley onto the 25-man roster. They'll be more interested in how he handles quality breaking pitches. Because if all he does is mash sub-par offerings to compile a flashy three-digit decimal, while struggling against superior stuff, it won't tell them jack squat about his ability to hit major league pitching.

Only scenario I can envision where they break camp with Bradley on the 25-man roster is if Ellsbury or Victorino suffers a catastrophic injury and not only won't start the season healthy, but may miss half or more of the season. That in combination with Bradley absolutely tearing the cover off the ball. Bradley HAS to play every day, so they're not going to bring him up to the big leagues to platoon in LF or sit on the bench as a reserve outfielder. If an everyday spot is available (via an Ellsbury or Victorino injury), they might consider it. Otherwise, he's starting the season in Portland no matter what he does in Ft Myers.

I would hate trading Morales, so that's probably what the Cardinals would want. They would surely ask for some package that a Sox fan wouldn't want to give up. Morales (9 k/9 last year) would probably put up an ERA around 3.50 as a starter with them in the NL Central. That would hurt to see.

On principle, I dislike the idea of trading a cheap fairly young lefty starting pitcher with good stuff for a position player, but Carpenter would fill multiple holes on our roster. He would be our starting LF, would start at 1B if anything happened to Napoli, would be our starting 3B if anything happened to Middlebrooks, and could play RF if anything happened to Victorino. We need someone exactly like this.

Also, Gomes is a big blob on our roster and was a stupid signing. If we had picked up a real OF who could both hit and play defense instead, stuff like Alex fricking Hassan having an injury wouldn't matter so much. But instead we had to jump on Gomes and give him 2 years in November, instead of waiting and seeing how the market unfolded. Clearly, we targeted him as someone we really wanted, since we gave him multiple years so early in the offseason. Now Gomes and useless Ryan Sweeney are both going to be on our opening day roster, and one of them will be in LF every day.

We could have made Gomes Plan Q and maybe got him later for one year if we waited. Or if not, who cares, he's not that good anyway. He's a 32-year-old who can't field, can't run, can only play LF poorly or DH, and has a lifetime .790 OPS, 109 OPS+ (101, 94 and 140 OPS+ the last 3 years-- which is he more likely to put up at age 32?) He is not someone you target and give multiple years to, he is a guy you pick up for one year on the cheap in January if the better options aren't happening.

I will be extremely happy if the Red Sox start the season with Morales on the opening day roster. If he is moved, he's worth far more than OF depth.

What was Hassan going to provide and why is what he brings to the table so difficult to replace?

What would the Cubs want for DeJesus (826 OPS against RHP in 412 AB's last season)? Can't be much... He'd be an ideal fit with Gomes (974 OPS against LHP in 164 AB's last season) in left and can play all over the OF when sitting. That's an all-star caliber offensive LF duo.

Do teams really see Franklin Morales as a legitimate starting pitcher? He seems like a depth guy to me, one who can make a spot start here or there. I can't envision the Cardinals giving up a good young player for him; bringing Lohse back seems likely. Sox are in a scary spot. Could certainly contend but really lacking in depth at a lot of positions.

What would the Cubs want for DeJesus (826 OPS against RHP in 412 AB's last season)? Can't be much... He'd be an ideal fit with Gomes (974 OPS against LHP in 164 AB's last season) in left and can play all over the OF when sitting. That's an all-star caliber offensive LF duo.

Dejesus is the Cubs starting rightfielder. Can't imagine Theo and Jed are just going to give him up for a song. I know it is fun to play fantasy baseball and come up with solutions to our problems with other teams' players, but we can't assume it will be easy to acquire these players, especially a week before pitchers and catchers.

Dejesus is the Cubs starting rightfielder. Can't imagine Theo and Jed are just going to give him up for a song. I know it is fun to play fantasy baseball and come up with solutions to our problems with other teams' players, but we can't assume it will be easy to acquire these players, especially a week before pitchers and catchers.

The starting right fielder on a team going no place who is in need of talent in a lot of different areas.

The starting right fielder on a team going no place who is in need of talent in a lot of different areas.

He's 33 years old and will make close to $5 million this season.

It won't cost much more than a middling prospect.

You're insane. Last year one fWAR was worth around $4.4M. DeJesus put up 1.7 fWAR. He's not overpaid by any stretch, so there's no incentive for the Cubs to replace him unless it's to upgrade the position -- but at what cost to them?

There's no way the Cubs just ditch him for a "middling prospect". Were they that eager to do this, he'd have been dealt months ago.

The starting right fielder on a team going no place who is in need of talent in a lot of different areas.

He's 33 years old and will make close to $5 million this season.

It won't cost much more than a middling prospect.

And what do the Cubs do in RF after they deal away their starter? It always amazes me how some Sox fans can view the other 28 teams in the league (the Yankees seem to be the exception to this) as some sort of farm system. Just because they're "going nowhere" doesn't mean they aren't trying to field a competitive team. They won't move DeJesus unless the acquiring team makes it worth their while, and a middling prospect probably isn't worth their while.

The Sox' likely 25-man roster includes 5 OFs, including 3 who are passable CF options. It would be nice to have a guy like Kalish who can play all three spots as additional depth, but that's a luxury, not a necessity.

Sweeney doesn't hit enough to play RF every day, and you don't want to start Nava regularly against LHPs, so the Sox would be in a tough spot if Victorino or Gomes missed any extended period of time. But having Kalish and Hassan on hand would have improved that situation marginally at best.

If the Sox can pick up a RHH OF on the cheap, they should do so. If they could do this, however, then why did they sign Gomes?

I think the smart play is to hope Gomes and (especially) Victorino stay healthy, and to trade for a veteran outfielder only if a need emerges due to injury and none of the options on the farm (JBJ, Brentz, et al.) are playing well enough to deserve an extended audition.

It would be great if there was someone on the roster who could provide some depth at both 1B and OF. It would be even better if that person was making the ML minimum with a bit of potential upside. I wish we could find a guy like that, maybe someone like Jerry Sands.

When Sands was traded away with the Napoli negotiations ongoing, I figured that the Sox must be pretty comfortable with Napoli's hip, not thrilled, but comfortable. It turns out that the organization knew Napoli's hip was in worse shape than anyone thought. It seems questionable that they would trade Sands away knowing this to strengthen the bullpen which was already looking solid. The fact that our OF depth has taken a serious hit between Kalish and Hassan, makes this decision seem even a bit more questionable.

I understand that by trading Sands away as part of a package for a reliever the organization felt like Sands wasn't going to be a solid regular, but that doesn't mean they are right.

A great many major-league players could learn to play first base. The club may well be intending to have some(one) work out at that position during spring training. While the current group of outfielders may be thin (to some), they are experienced and there is no reason that one or more of them cannot spend quite a bit of time playing first while invitees get playing time. As for the regular season, David Ortiz can provide emergency service at first if they need time to call up a player.

This makes sense for a lot of reasons, not the least of which are the "Mike Trout! - no, Mike Carp" jokes. The only issue is the 40 man.

What are the reasons though? 40-man isn't an issue, they can put Kalish on the 60-Day DL right now if they want.

If something happens and we need a player and the answer we get from Cherington is Mike Carp, we are completely screwed, right? He would be a LHH platoon DH against LHP if Ortiz's leg is trashed? His Fans Scouting Report defense is scary to look at.

Carp is only 26, can play first base and the outfield; they need a guy like that who can provide that flexibility even though he's not great. As far as his defense goes; he doesn't have much of a sample size at any one position. His minor league numbers are solid. Because he can play first, I think he's a better fit than Nava. As far as waiver claims go, I assume it's irrelevant, because they'll trade him for something.

Carp probably won't be as bad in LF as the horrible Gomes, and might not be worse at first than the catcher with a bum hip we're starting there. He's not great, but neither are our other options. Maybe he will be a solid hitter with Fenway as his home park rather than Safeco. Seems worth a shot. It's not like we'd be trading them something good, or paying him a lot of money, or banking on him batting fifth all year.

I'd like to know what source that 17 year old kid has besides his daily ripping off of MLBTR.

Maybe we take a flyer on Carp, maybe not, but it figures that a LHH becomes available and he has a reverse split, exactly what we don't need.

I think he got it from Jen Royle...

Seriously though, this would be a solid move. He is exactly the kind of guy we need to fill out the bench. He's Almost a Jerry Sands clone with perhaps a little more evidence that he is more likely to end up a bench player. Nevertheless though, he did show some serious power at points in the minor leagues, even a bit in Seattle in 2011. Let's see what he can do outside of Safeco.

I'd like to know what source that 17 year old kid has besides his daily ripping off of MLBTR.

I should apologize for not vetting this tweeter's credentials. It was re-tweeted by other reputable journalists, and I blindly copied/pasted. However, the information he conveyed seems reasonable regardless of sourcing, especially with PeteAbe confirming the Sox have discussed Carp internally.